Gonzaga earns strong placement in NCAA Selection Committee’s Top 16 reveal

The Bulldogs are 26-2 on the year with three regular season games remaining

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Myk Crawford

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are 26-2 and 14-1 in WCC play, putting themselves in a very comfortable position with Selection Sunday coming up in three weeks.

On Saturday, the Selection Committee revealed their current top 16 teams on CBS, and the Zags were No. 12 overall - slotting them in as the final No. 3 seed.

Gonzaga was placed in the West Region alongside Arizona, Purdue, and Michigan State.

Michigan was the No. 1 overall seed in the Midwest region, while Duke, Arizona, and - somewhat surprisingly - Iowa State made up the three other top seeds. Iowa State defeated Houston on Monday in Ames, which was a determining factor in the Cyclones moving into that final top seed.

UConn, Houston, Illinois, and Purdue made up the four No. 2 seeds. The Huskies were the fourth No. 1 seed earlier in the week, but fell to a No. 2 after losing to Creighton on Wednesday.

Florida, Kansas, and Nebraska joined Gonzaga as the No. 3 seeds, with Texas Tech, Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Michigan State rounding out the No. 4 seeds. Alabama, which Gonzaga beat in Las Vegas in the Players Era Championship back on Nov. 24, was one of two teams the Selection Committee said just missed the cut, along with Arkansas.

The Zags have a strong resume from all perspectives. They currently sit at No. 5 in the NET with a 6-1 record in Quad 1 games, 6-0 in Quad 2, 7-1 in Quad 3, and 7-0 in Quad 4. Gonzaga's loss to Portland certainly hurt the resume, making a No. 2 seed much less attainable, but the Zags have plenty of quality wins to make up for it.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Bart Torvik's Wins Above Bubble metric has become very popular with the Selection Committee, and once again, the Zags are in a favorable spot at No. 10, just behind Iowa State and ahead of Kansas, Michigan State, and Alabama.

The Zags are also No. 9 at KenPom, ahead of fellow No. 3 seeds Nebraska and Kansas, but behind Florida, which is No. 6.

Gonzaga has multiple opportunities to further bolster their resume as well, including a Quad 1 game to close out the regular season in Moraga against Saint Mary's on Feb. 28. Plus, if the Zags advance to the WCC Tournament championship game - which they have done every year since 1998 - they will have another potential Quad 1 opportunity if they face either Santa Clara or Saint Mary's provided they remain above No. 50 in the NET. The Broncos are currently No. 40 while the Gaels are No. 27.

Before any of that, however, the Zags will need to take care of business in Spokane against Pacific on Saturday and Portland on Wednesday.

First up is the matchup with the Tigers on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+.